Entire team of Russian news channel resigns on air with ‘say no to war’ message

Russia-Ukraine war: The staff of Russian media outlet Dozhd, or TV Rain, did their last broadcast on Thursday. (Image credit: Screengrab from video posted on LinkedIn by Daniel Abrahams)

The whole team of an independent Russian news channel resigned during a live broadcast with last words “say no to war” as their country continues to intensify its attack on Ukraine.

The channel, Dozhd, or TV Rain, one of the last independent media outlets in Russia, had been facing pressure for its coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Russia’s telecommunications regulator has alleged that TV Rain was "inciting extremism, abusing Russian citizens, causing mass disruption of public calm and safety, and encouraging protests”, according to BBC.

The news organisation’s website had been blocked, after which, it announced that it would suspend operations, CBS reported.

Follow today's live updates on the Russia-Ukraine war

TV Rain did its last broadcast on Thursday. It ended with one of the outlet’s founders saying “no to war” and the whole team walking out of the studio.

The broadcast then cut to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake in a nod to Russian history. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, state-run TV channels would play the ballet performance on loop instead of showing the turmoil in the country.

TV Rain goes out with a bang, broadcasting the Swan Lake performance that aired on Soviet TVs in 1991 during the attempted coup against Gorbachev. At a time when many wonder if those around Putin could stop this war in Ukraine and Russia’s plunge into isolation. https://t.co/ADFGVwxy8o

Story continues below Advertisement

Remove Ad

— Andrew Roth (@Andrew__Roth) March 3, 2022

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill providing for jail terms of up to 15 years for publishing fake news about the Russian army.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has caused immense devastation. There is no definitive figure on the number of civilian deaths in Ukraine-Russia war so far but according to some reports, it stands at 2,000.

More than 12 lakh people have been reported to have fled the country since the Russian invasion on February 24.